Paper tension control device for printing presses



Oct. 6, 1931. K. G. LAYCOCK PAPER TENSION CONTROL DEVICE FOR PRINTING PRESSES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 11 1926 lnvwrifo'a Kenneik filgcock attouwqd Oct. 6, 1931. K. G; LAYCOCK 7 1,825,965

PAPER TENSION CONTROL DEYICE FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed Dec. 11, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented oer; a, 193i PATEN'T OFFICE KENNETH G. LAYCOCK, F KINGSTON TOWNSHIP, LUZERNE. COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA,

ASSIGNOR TO GOSS PRINTING PRESS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORA- TION OF ILLINOIS PAPER TENSION CONTROL DEVICE FOR PRINTING PRESSES Application filed December 11, 1926. Serial No. 154,249.

This invention relates to improvements in paper tension control devices for printing presses, particularly, as applied to a superspeed newspaper press or any other suitable machine, such as those in which the paper roll carriers are arranged for end paper feed.

An object of this invention is to provide a spring roller tension control which may be easily applied to the ordinary newspaper press apparatus in cooperation with the standard tension control device now commonly used.

It is the common practice, at present, wherever a plural deck press is in operation, for instance, a fourdeck type of apparatus wherein four rolls of paper are commonly used, to normally require the services of two tension men. This invention provides a spring roller tension control which will be :9 instrumental in the elimination of the necessity of constant attention of the tension men toward the tension alone; thereby releasing a considerable portion of their time to other details of press operation.

A further-object ofthis invention is to provide a spring roller tension control which will effectively overcome and eliminate many of the present difficulties in roll paper feeding.

to newspaper printing presses and the like, such as the disadvantages due to the roll running ahead of its own momentum on sudden press stops, inefl'ectual method of handling half width and three-quarter width rolls on a full, width spring roller, necessity of frequently loosening tension on the standard tension brake by hand as the paper roll decreases in size, too rapid action of the spring roll such as sudden tightening or loosening of the web. This last mentioned difficulty is in 10 itself a source of constant trouble.

Another object of this invention is to provide a device which presents .an effective and positive remedy for many of the difficulties noted above byharnessing the waste power of the spring roller springs and causing this power to function through leverage directly on the roll tension brake.

Another object of this invention is to provide a spring roller tension control which may be used on practically all rotary web expensive structural details in order to adapt the device to the ordinary printing presses.

Another object of this invention is to provide a spring roller tension device in which the cause of the constant agitation of the spring roller while the press is running, ex-

erts an agitating action on the brake shoe of the spring roller tension control, this action elfectively preventing sticking of the tension brake shoes as well as minimizing excessive heating. Thus in starting, running, stopping, the spring roller tension control actually controls the feed of roll paper on any make or any type of rotary printing press. The cost of installation is, furthermore, within easy reach of all publishers or printers.

Other objects of this invention will appear from the following detailed description of the device and as disclosed in the two sheet-s of drawings which are herewith made a part of this application.

In the drawings, Figure 1 illustrates an end elevational view of the spring roller tension control device in assembled relationship with the standard tension control device on the paper roll connected with the lower deck of a conventional super-speed newspaper press.

Figure 2 illustrates a perspective view of the spring roller tension control, according to this invention, in detached relationship to the cooperating elements of the newspaper press, the paper roll together with the usual standard tension control device being omitted in this View.

Numeral 1 designates the brake arm of the ordinary tension control device as commonly applied to a super-speed newspaper press or other suitable apparatus. In the case of the illustrative press, the paper roll carriers are arranged for end paper feed, and the modification of this invention,fa disclosed in the drawings, is shown attached and in cooperation with a high-speed press, but it is to be understood that this device may be applied to spring rollertension control, according, to

this invention, may be applied to the roll on each deck if desired The rolls, together with the tension devices, are usually primarily supported by suitable bracket elements on columns 8 and 9. The spring roller tension control attachment, particularly described and disclosed in this application, consists of a shaft element 10 adapted to pass through the press frame columns 8 and 9 and projecting outwardly on both sides a suitable distance as disclosed at 11 and 12. A bracket arm 13 is permanently secured to the extension 12 of the shaft element 10 by means of a set screw 14 or otherwise, while bracket arm portions 15 and 16 are slidably and loosely positioned on the extension 11 of the shaft 10. A bracket arm 17 is keyed or permanently secured to the shaft extension 11 by means of set screws 18 or otherwise. Suitable steel strap portions 19 and 20 are securely bolted to the slidable box elements 21 and 22. The slidable box elements 21 and 22 are of the ordinary type adapted to function as journals for the spring roller device consisting of spring elements 23 and 24 and the roller elements 25 ordinarily a part of the newspaper press. Tension may be applied to the paper as it passes over the spring roller 25 by means of the spring tension elements 24 and 23. Straps 26 and 27 made from suitable material are adapted to connect with the straps 19 and 20 and the bracket arms 13 and 15 by means of pivot elements 28, 29, 30 and 31. Steel pins 32 and 33- are fitted into holes in the bracket arm portions 17 and 16, the pins 32 and 33 being adapted to pass through suitably drilled holes 34 and 35 in an equalizer bar 36, the length of the leverage stroke being adjusted by means of raising and lowering the equalizer bar 36 loosely located on the pins 32 and 33 and adjustable thereon by means of suit-able placement elements 37. A rod 38 made from suitable material connects the equalizer bar 36 with a tension lever 39. A suitable rod 40 is attached at one end to the lever element or block 39 by means of machine screws 41 or otherwise the opposite end of the rod 40 may be adjnstably attached to the rod 38 as at 42. The lever block 39 is provided with a notched element 43 adapted to receive a pivot bolt 44 which passes through brake arm 1 of the standard tension control device, while a pivot bolt 45, adapted to pass through the lever brake 39 as at 46, is arranged to be detachably connected with the tension rod 2 of the standard tension device by means of a hook portion 47 thereon.

In Figure l, the spring roller 25, which is a part of the newspaper press, is shown with springs partly compressed. This is the running position. Any further pull downward eases the tension on the brake, while any slackening of the pull tightens the tension on the brake.

In operation, this invention provides a spring roller tension control easily adjusted to the standard tension device. In practice, it has been found that an impulse originating at 21 and 22 will be transmitted at 39 through the bracket portions 15 and 16 and 13. The impulses originating from the spring roller 25 are transmitted to the lever plate 39, in a slightly different manner, from each end of the spring roll, as follows: The impulse from the arm 19 will be transmitted to the lever 39 through the sleeve or bracket portions 15, 16, the equalizer bar 36, the rod 38, and the adjustable connecting rod element 40, the brackets 15 and 16 being loosely supported by the shaft 10. An impulse originating through the bracket 20 will be trans mitted to the lever 39 through the bracket 13, the shaft 10, the bracket arm 17, the equalizer bar 36, the rod 38, and the adjustable connecting rod 40. The equalizer bar 36 is so constructed and divided in cooperation with the bracket portions 16 and 17 and rod element 38, so that an impulse with a. lifting power of one inch, transmitted from the bracket 19, simultaneously with an impulse transmitted from the bracket 20, with a depressive power of one inch, would thus counterbalance each other.

Under ordinary conditions in newspaper presses, the starting of the press pulls down on the spring roller by the pulling of the web of paper into the press. This action compresses the spring elements 23 and 24, but unevenly, because of inequalities in the width of the paper. This condition is taken care of by applying force separately along the lines above noted. In order to operate witha half width instead of a full width roll of paper, a set screw 48 is adapted to firmly lock the brackets 15 and 16 to the shaft 10, thereby functioning to produce a condition in which all of the brackets on the shaft 10 are maintained in a rigid position, causing the spring roller to remain in a horizontal or set position.

In Figure 1, a paper rollcarrier is disclosed as commonly mounted in a basement directly under the press in which a standard tension device is controlled by the spring roller tension control described and claimed in this application. When the press starts, the

paper 49 pulls down thespringroller25,thereby placing the spring element 23 under tension and drawing the rod and bracket portions 26 and 19 downward, thus easing the brake pressure at the shoes 50 and 51. The levers are so arranged in this invention as to reduce the play or motion at the, brakes to a very small fraction of an inch. When the press stops, the paper roll should stop, but, in presses now in common use, the roll, owing to the potential result of the centrifugal force, tends to continue to revolve. This invention provides a device whereby, when the press is stopped, the tension spring 23 expands, thereby raising the roll 25 and causing the brake shoes 50 and 51 to be applied.

In devices designed to control the tension, now in common use on some high speed web presses, the paper leaves the roll 5 and travels underneath a pipe roller 52, thence over the spring roller 25, thence downward and underneath the bed plate of the press into the printin cylinders. Since virtually no paper roll is a solutely true in winding, it'may be assume that in unwinding, the web is more or less apt to wabble in its action. But when the web reaches the printing cylinders, it must enter smoothly and uniforml true, else a ragged printing effect will be 0 tained. This condition is known is practice as offset on the sheet; therefore, in order that a web of paper may be drawn from a roll that wabbles and obtain a smooth, even entrance of that paper into the printing cylinders, each press manufacturer places a spring roller in the path of the paper travel. On starting the press, the operator applies the proper amount of tension on the brake shoes 50 and 51. Under normal operating conditions this braking is suflicient to keep the paper roll from running ahead and to hold the sheet straight in its travel. Because of the tensionapplied' at the brake shoes 50 and 51 through the ordinary standard tension control device, the pull of a sheet on the spring roller 25 draws the spring roller downward, as above described, in a slidable box shaped element located at each end of the spring'roll 25, the box elements being adapted as slidable journals for carrying the spring roll 25. I The above action compresses the springs at each end of the roll and in order to maintain a perfectly smooth flow of paper at this point onward to the printing cylinders, these springs must be held in compression by the pull of the web all of the time the press is running.

It has been found from experience that a roll of paper 72" wide, weighing an average of 1200 lbs. is spindled on a shaft as at 7 with a brake drum having brake shoes 50 and 51 at one end. The roll is placed in the press and the brake shoes 50 and 51 are engaged with the brake drum 53 on the paper roll shaft 7. When tension is first applied on the creasing rotating speed of the roll and its corresponding brake drum 53, excessive friction on the brake shoes 50 and 51 requires that the operator release a part of this braking effect by loosening the brake at frequent intervals. If this loosening process is'neglected, the excessive tension will cause the spring roller 25 to pull down to the limit of the slidable boxes 21 and 22, thus breaking the web. Asuming that there are four full paper rolls, weighing 1200.1bs. each, in the press, and that the press is running at a speed of 500 papers per minute, one web breaks. The press must be stopped instantly, and the result is the loss of one web, but the other three re maining rolls must be taken into consideration. The tension that was sufficient to hold those rolls steady in operation, could not hold the momentum of the rolls on a sudden press stop, consequently, the three rolls run on and there is a lot of slack paper in the press. Suppose a half width roll of paper is in one deck of the pres. This roll is but 36 wide, and when the press is started, the paper functions to pull down sharply on just one-half the length of the spring roller 25, throwing the spring roller out of a horizontal alignment and placing all of the strain on one edge of the paper, thereby causing the sheet to snap.

In running a press, such as a superspeed press, it is necessary, under certain existing conditions, to have a man, or an employee,

hold one end of the spring roller 25 when running a half width roll of paper on each starting of the press. From the above it is evident that the following difficulties in paper roll feeding are commonly met with, such as the roll runningahead of its own momentum on sudden press stops, ineffectual method of handling half width and threequarter width rolls on a full width spring roller, the necessity of frequently loosening tension, on the brake shoes 50 and 51 by hand as the paper roll decreases insize, too rapid action of spring roller 25 because of sudden tightening and loosening of the web, which is in itself, a source of constant trouble.

This invention provides a spring roll tension control which will effect a positive remedy for all of these disadvantages, by harnessing the waste power of the spring roller springs and causing the power to work through leverage directly on the roll tension brake 53, through the brake shoes 50 and 51.

The operation of the device as herein defollows: On starting the press, the tension brake 53, through the brake shoes 50 and 51, is set by hand for normal operation. This tension on the roll holds the spring roller i scribed and claimed may be briefly noted as springs 23 and 24 under compression as under any other normal operating condition. A sudden stopping of the press and subsequent slackening of the web, allows spring roller springs to expand. This action forces the spring roller upward, thereby creating a pull on the tension lever 39, thereby tending to tighten the brake shoes and 51 on the drum 53 and will function to stop the paper roll as the press stops. The braking action on the drum counteracts a too rapid action of spring roller springs. In this operation, it may be stated, that since the tightening and loosening action on the tension brake drum 53 never exceeds one-tenth of an inch from the start to the finish of a roll of paper, a slight additional compression of the spring roller springs 23 and 24 over normal will care for practically all the loosening of tension on the brake drum required by the diminishing size of the paper roll, thereby effectively eliminating entirely one of the disadvantages. Thus far, in the description of the operation, the handling of only full width rolls of paper by the arrangement of arms and levers, has been described, but there is allowed in this device a free, individual action of the two ends of the spring roller in order that the spring-roller may equalize any inequalities of winding in the width of the web. However, the inequalities in the width of a. half width, and usually of a three-quarter width roll, are so slight that the spring roller may be permanently locked in horizontal alignment for these rolls. This may be done by simply locking the arms 16 and 15 on the shaft 10, whereby any movement of the spring roller, either upward or downward, must be uniform from end to end, no matter where a pull is placed on the spring roller, and it retains a horizontal alignment. This allows an even tension on the entire width of a hall width or threequarter width roll and eliectively eliminates another of the ditiiculties commonly met with, and is one of the most important features of the spring roller tension control described and claimed herewith.

The device, according to this invention, may be used on practically all rotary web presses and is very easy and inexpensive to apply thereto. It is simply necessary to install a shaft adapted to pass through the frame of the press, from one side of the press to the other, all brackets and levers may be made of the size, strength and character suited to the type of press involved.

\Vhat I claim is:

1. The combination with a tension device for roll paper on printing presses having a roller member over which the paper passes mounted at each end on a spring tension element, a spindle for holding the roll of paper and a tension brake for the spindle, of automatic means connecting with the brake for receiving the different tension effects from each end of the roller and transmitting the resultant effect to the brake.

2. A Web tension controlling mechanism including in combination means for supporting a web roll, means for applying a braking action to said roll, a roller over which the web passes, springs for resiliently supporting both ends of the roller, levers operated by the compressive force of the springs for directly transmitting the variations in web tension to the braking means, including means for automatically balancing the dillerences in tension from each end of the roll whereby the resultant tension effect is transmitted from the roller to the braking means.

3. A web tension controlling mechanism including in combination means for supporting a web roll, means for applying a braking action to said roll, a roller over which the web passes and moved by variations in web tension, levers operatively connected to the roller at a plurality of points in its extent, a balancing device connected to said levers, and means for transmitting the resultant tension eiiect from said balancing device to the braking means for varying the braking, and thereby the tension of the web, in accordance with the movement of the roller.

4. A web tension controlling mechanism including in combination means for supporting a web roll, means for applying a braking action to said roll, a roller over which the web passes, springs for resiliently supporting both ends of the roller, and levers connected to the roller and operated by the compressive force of the springs for directly transmitting the variations in web tension to the braking means, said levers being adapted to optionally transmit the tension variations of the roller independently or as a unit.

5. A web tension controlling mechanism including in combination means for supporting a web roll, a friction brake for said roll, said brake being provided with brake beams, a friction brake for tensioning the web drawn from the roll for said roll, said brake being provided with brake beams, means responsive to variations in the Web tension, including a lever connected to the outer ends of the brake beams and adapted to transmit said variations directly to the brake.

6. WVeb tension controlling mechanism including in combination, a web roll support, a brake acting on the web roll to tension the web as it is drawn off the roll, a roller over which the web roll passes, means for supporting each end of the roller and for transmitting the movement of the roller. under the influence of the web tension, to the brake to control the tension of the web, and optionally operable means for preventing movement of the supporting means relative to each other, whereby the apparatus can be used with partial width webs.

7. Web tension controlling mechanism including in combination a web roll support, a brake acting on the web roll to tension the Web as it is drawn off the roll, a roller over which the web passes, a plurality of movable supports for the roller permitting the roller to move as the tensionof the web varies, and means for combining and transmitting the movement of the supports to the brake to control the tension of the web.

8. Web tension controlling mechanism including in combination a web roll support, a brake acting on the web roll to tension the web as it is drawn off the roll, aroller over which the web passes, a movable support for each end of the roller and means for transmitting the movement of the roller to the brake, including means for automatically equalizing the movement of the ends of the roller to compensate for inequalities in the winding of the web roll.

9. Web tension controlling mechanism including in combination a web roll support, a

' brake acting on the web roll to tension the web as it is drawn ofl the roll, a roller over which the web passes, independently movable supports for each end of the roller, means for equalizing the movement of the ends of the roller and transmitting it to the roller, and means optionally operable to prevent independent movement of the supports.

10. Web tension controlling mechanism for printing presses including in combination a web roll support, a brake for tensioning the web drawn from the roll, a roller over which the web is fed to the printing press and movable in accordance with the web tension, springs supporting the roller and opposing its movement as the web tension increases, a pair of independently movable levers mounted on the press frame and connected with the ends of the roller, an equalizer connected to the levers and means connecting the brake with the equalizer.

11. Web tension controlling mechanism for printing presses including in combination a web roll support, a brake for tensioning the web drawn from the roll, a roller over which the web is fed to the printing press and movable in accordance with the web ,tension, springs supporting the roller and opposing its movement as the web tension increases, a pair of independently movable levers mounted on the press frame and connected with the ends of the roller, an equalizer connected to the levers, means connecting the brake with the equalizer and optionally operable means for preventing independent movement of the levers.

12. A web tension controlling mechanism including in combination, means for supporting a web roll, means for applying a braking action to said roll, a roller over which the web passes and movable by changes in the web tension, a balancing device connected with the braking means, means for independ- 

